Lunchtime Links: This Is Not Your Regular Conference Booth

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By Anita Ferrer / May 30, 2013(via the Penguin Book Truck's Facebook page)

Penguin’s bookstores-on-wheels will roll into this week’s Book Expo America. Also: how your association can use Instagram to encourage member engagement.

What we ask ourselves about Instagram is ‘are we having a meaningful conversation with our users?’

Penguin Group recently launched a mobile bookstores division that will use the Penguin Book Truck and the Penguin Pushcart to tour the U.S. this summer. What’s the big idea? Engaging directly with the literary community.

That, and more ways to engage with your community, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Rolling showcase: Penguin Group’s bookstores-on-wheels will roll into the Book Expo America in New York City this week and continue a summer tour across the country, visiting several literary events (including the American Library Association Conference in Chicago), bookstores, parks, beaches, and even theaters. The carts, inspired by New York City’ hot dog carts, and the motorized bookstores are part of Penguin’s push to foster a more engaging relationship with the literary community. “We think the Penguin Book Truck and Pushcart will allow us to, directly and in partnership with bookstores, connect writers with readers and to spread the iconic Penguin brand in fun and exciting new ways. This will be a movable feast of today’s great books,” Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group, said in a statement.

More than just filters: Instagram can be a lot more than square images with cool filters. Just ask these newsrooms. They believe Instagram is a tool to increase engagement with their readers. Some have been using content they already have or behind-the-scenes photographs to prompt commentary among readers. “Instagram is so immediate and intimate that it creates this close connection with the user,” Cory Haik, executive producer for digital news at The Washington Post, told Poynter. “What we ask ourselves about Instagram is ‘Are we having a meaningful conversation with our users?'” Is your association using Instagram to build engagement?

Get online: Web tools and social networking are great low-cost ways for organizations to develop relationships with their communities. Social business strategist Mila Araujo suggests some ways nonprofits can use tools like blogging, visual storytelling, and emails. “With the massive influx of our population using social networks, the playing field has suddenly evened out, and with the right strategy, any nonprofit can be at the forefront of their community’s mind and make their way onto the list of organizations that donors absolutely ‘must’ support.” What are the most effective ways your organization engages with its community online?

What interesting reads have you found today? Let us know in your comments below.